Improvement in projectiles for rifled ordnance



J. L. HENRY. PROJEGTILB PoR RIPLBD ORDNANCE.

Patented July 8, 1862.

Zai/eidg?? ltail shape, as at i', Fig. 2. l'will thus completely surround these parts and 'embed them.

UNIT-ED VSmyrne IPATENT OFFICE..

'[J. HENRY, OF THE DISTRICT 0F. ClLUlllBI-A,4

IMPROVEMENT IN PRoJEcTlLEs Fon RiFLi-:o caramelos.

h'lwcilmiion forming pari of Letters Patent No. 35,824, ,dated July 8,1862.

To al?, w/tom, t 711/01/ concern,.-

le it known that l, J. L. HEXRY, ot' the llistri stof Columbia, have in-ventcd a Prqjectile l'or Ritled Cannon, the nature of which will be described and shown in the following specificationaud drawings.

,'.Figure l'represents a section through its axis of rotation.

l Two or more bands, a a,of malleable metal,

are securedaroniul the projectile near its cylindrical termini. Soft iron will answer, or soft brass or copper. Beneath the rear parts of these bands are gas-channelsl, of4 j ust sutli cient capacity (and no more) to ciiect the de- Ito artillerists, and which are therefore omit-` ,ted here.

, The bandsl may be secured to the shot in any convenient and proper way. I have found in lsome, made by direction at the 'asllington NavyYard, the following method to be good An annular groove is turned in the shot, into which the frontparts, li, of the bands are tightly forcedtheir ends merely meeting and need not be united; or, the groove may be larger,

at c', and molten lead or other material may be pounded or swaged therein to secure them.

ln this case the parts yi may be notched dove- The molten metal Itis seen Vthat the'hinder parts only of the bands will be expanded bythe gas to tit the bore and take the grooves or rifles of the gun, and as the quicker this expansion (for well-known rea-sons) takes' place the better. The expanding parts should bethinned or otherwise weakened for this purpose. The rear edges are beveled, as at o, and fit against cor responding bevcls around the shot. This supports them, and also allows the gas the more -:readily to escape from beneath them the moment they leave the gun-.a very important consideration, since these rear edges will thus bev 4 expanded no more after leaving the gun; but

it' the gas were not tothns escape, or through openings in them or around the bevel on the shot, it would force up the rear edges of the band higher than is necessary on leaving the gun, and would thus present considerable'rel 4 tardation to both rotation and translation. Tf.

these points be properly attended to, the band, after tiring, will be found unchanged, except the slight wave-like appearance of their rear peripheries, caused by their taking the rifles of the bores, as seen inl Fig. 3, which may be regarded either as a section of the bore or as an end view ofthe band after firing in athreegrooved piece.

For convenience, if the band be secured while casting the shot,-tliey may-be left standing out, as at c, Fig. 1, and after turning out the gas-chambers b if these be not also cast)` the parts 'v may be bent down into their fin- -tact on the shot should be rounded oit, as

at a; otherwise, on firing, small particles of the shot would be broken oit* by the erpan` sionof the bands and left inthe bore. This would injure the gun on the next fire.v The bands' at their bend o maybe turnedto snugly fit the bore, thus compelling .the 'projectile V (irrespective of expansion) to assume and keep axial position while .passing from the gun, the first and last requisites for accuracy, as well -as to prevent injury to thetiducial edges ,ot'

the lands of the gun. A This is better shown at 4`. It is seen from this construction of shot, first, that altrue axial position is se 'cured to the projectile, which it keeps while passing ont; second, thatno vibration of the shot obtains in the bore; third, that windage is estopped. and that the shot is-iirmlysup-` ported in this position by means of the bea-rings of the bands at the termini of the cylindrical part; fourth, but half the number' of grooves or rifles are necessaryr as compared identical projectile was patented in the United 'States tciM'rgCQT'. James in' February, 1856; k'the Patent fice, of course, not being aware of the English patent. The latter patentee (assisted by Mr.' Floyd, Secretary of Var) made extensive experiments, and many have also been made subsequently; but the fatal defects developed were principally'two. First, the band having so great a surface exposed to the action of the vgas is blown off in fragments justas the shot leaves the gun, in pieces weighing from a fraction of apound to the weight of the band', which, of course, renders it dangerous to fire over or anywhere on the flanks of our own men, thus defeating the principal object of artillery-viz., to protect the different corps of troops in advance; secondly, thereaction of the band as it nies off deilects (of course) the projectile fron its true path, But experiments made by me at W'est Point, New York, in 1857 and 1858, developed another serious defect-viz., 'a rapid and violentl vibration of such shot, while passing out of the gun, causes it to pound or hammer the bore, thereby very much injuring it, and is another cause of inaccuracy. The cause of this is evident, when borne in mind that when such a bandis expanded by the gas-from the shot against the bore-there is a jacket (or elastic cushion of gas) between it and that part of the shot it surrounds; hence the shot, by means of the action vof the gas behind it, is rapidly and violently rocked longitudinally within this band so expanded, thus injuring the gun, as foresaid, and especially the lands Such. shots are evidently worse than useless. To convert this shot into a shell,.I need only explain my device `for causing explosion on striking the target. A metallic plug, 1:, Fig.

1,-having a corresponding chamber, m, re-

ceives a neatly-fitting piston, p, which is to be drawn out just before placing the shell in the gun, to drop a percussion pellet into the chamber, as shown in dotted lines at s. piston is then reinserted partially, but is prevented from coming in contact with the pellet by a small elbow of wire, t, which is inserted in a hole in the piston, as shown. This wire is turned up parallel to the piston, as at t, and is received in a recess, s', in the plug. Thisis its normal position; but when the piston is -drawn out to insert the pellet this wire stop l is turned down, as at t', and, goinginto'the recess s', supportsthe piston clear of the pelleton firing. The shell .isl now inserted and 'pushed home by a cup-rammel', and when the 'target is struck the elbow-wire gives way, the

pellet. is exploded thereby, and re is com- The I muni'ca'ted through the vent s to the charge in thel shell. The pellet may be inserted in a cavity in the plug, as in dotted lines at q, so as to drop itself into posit-ion when the piston is withdrawn.

\Vhenthe percussion-cap to explode a shell iS put in place while manufacturing it, I have 4invented the following safety device, (shown in Fig. 5, a longitudinal section thereolz) The percussion plunger or piston A has a working fit"7 in acorrespond'mg ehamber'nr i the nozzle of the shell, and may be vretained in its normal position by a spiral spring or other device; or it may be independent of any such device, and be lel't`i`ree to move in its chamber. A nipple, c, is formed, as shown, by simply turning out a recess, o', about it, leaving the solid annulus cf flush with the cap when secured on the nipple. Through the screw-pluga an anvil-screw, o, is tapped, having such a pitch of thread as to cause it to advance about one-sixteenth of an inch atone n turn. By inspecting the drawings it is seen that if the plunger A be forced forward by ac- -cident 'or otherwise, while the anvil-screw o remains as shown, the cap will not come in contact with said anvil-screw; but if this screw be advanced by a single turn, as shown in red, by an ordinaryscrew-driver, it will then receive the cap and explode it, when the piston is thrown forward upon the retardation of the projectile ou striking the target, thus communicating fire to the charge in the shell through a vent in the piston, as in ordinary fowling-pieces. This anvil-screw is only thus advanced to receive the impulse of the piston just before inserting the shell into the gun.

It is apparent from the foregoing that acci-4 dental explosion of a shell is avoided beyond the-resistanceto be overcome in my drawings 1 for a six or eighteen pounder, and from this any artillerist may adapt it to larger calibers. Of course, if deemed less expensive, or more convenient for the cannoneer when loading,

. instead of the anvil-screw, the anvil may be simply a smooth plug ofl soft metalsuch as brassand made rather larger-that is, slightly swelling-toward its outer end in such manner as to admit of being driven in by a blow on a proper punch,7 as far, and no farther, than is necessary for the purposes set forth.

'Having thus `described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters IIatent 4of the United States is 1. Combining one or vmore flexible bands with aprojectile for riiied ordnance in any man ner, substantially as described and shown, for the purposes set forth.v

2. Two or more separate setsof gas-chair nels, c, leading from the cavity d in the base of the proj-eetle to the under surface of two or more bands, "combined with the proj ectile, substantially as and for the purposes set forth. 3. Causing a portion of the bands, as set forth, or the metal which Vsecures' them to the shot, to neatly fit the bore, vfor the purposes set fort-h.

V.4.. The combination of an infiexiblestop or rest with a concussion-piston. arranged substantially asset forth, for the purpose described. l

The use of gasehambers beneath'a band or hands, so proportioned as to contain just sufficient gas to cause the band or-,bands to eiieetfthe enddesired, for the, reasons set forth. 6. Combining a percussion-piston with a shell, substantially as' described and shown,

so as to render unnecessary a spring or other equivalentvheretofore used to prevent aceidental explosion.

. 7. Combining an anvil-screw or its equiva- `lent with a. sheli in the manner substantially as shown, and for the purposes set forth.

8. The combination of the percussion-pis ton and anvil-serieu' with ea'eh other and with the shell, substantially as and for the purposes set forth and shown.

9. Combining a screw or its equivalent with a shell, so as to admit -of being adjusted from the outside of the shell to' explode the cap wit-hin. substantially as set forth.

y J. L. HENRY.

Witnesses:

' JOHN S. HoLLINGsHuAD,

'.T. B. Looms. 

